Sam Mendes' feisty relationship with Daniel

Directed by Sam Mendes, Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond film. It features Daniel Craig in his third performance as the main character/action hero while Javier Bardem stars as the film's villain, Raoul Silva. The plot line follows as James Bond's loyalty to M is challenged over secrets from her past. When MI6 is attacked, it falls to Bond to seek out and eliminate the threat regardless of the cost to himself.

The 'Skyfall' director has revealed the British actor was challenging to work with because he knew the role of James Bond inside out and was constantly giving his input into scenes.

Sam said: ''It was pretty feisty. He puts a 100 per cent of himself into it. He doesn't leave anything at home. And he has opinions about everything, which is as it should be.

''But it's very odd because I've never directed an actor in a role which, in a sense, he knows better than I do. Here it's like, 'Well he's played Bond already, so I'm the newcomer'.''

Sam admitted his approach to directing the new 007 film was unorthodox and he wanted a small set so he could work closely with his actors, as well as allowing a return to a more human, flawed approach to the iconic characters created by late Bond author Ian Fleming.

He said: ''Daniel walked on set on the first day, at Pinewood, and went, 'This doesn't feel like a Bond movie.' It was much smaller. I kept it small. I worked hard to keep it on a human scale, for the actors.

''Fleming put a lot of things in those novels that the movies threw out, because they were considered too dark. Now we live in an era where these things are not only appropriate, but almost necessary. If you've got a big franchise movie without a f***ed-up character, it's not worth doing.''